Rowdy Tellez Proves To Be Shrewd Pickup For Milwaukee Brewers

Rowdy Tellez has one of the best names in baseball.

The Milwaukee Brewers first baseman received the nickname from his mother while he was still in the womb. It seems he kicked quite a bit before being born Ryan John Tellez.

Rowdy can also be grumpy. He declined to be interviewed for this story and is known to occasionally be a curmudgeon – albeit a lovable one, according to his teammates – in the Brewers’ clubhouse.

Another word that aptly describes Tellez is productive. He played his part in the Brewers winning the National League Central title last year and an even larger role in them being in position to defend their crown this season.

Tellez’s batting average is an ordinary .239 but his 16 home runs and 53 RBIs lead Milwaukee. He has also hit 17 doubles.

That comes a year after he batted .272 with seven homers in 56 games after being acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in a trade.

Pretty good stuff from a guy who hit 21 home runs for the Blue Jays as a rookie in 2019 but became the odd man out in Toronto’s power-packed lineup last season. The Brewers only had to give up relievers Trevor Richards and Bowden Francis for Tellez last July 6.

Richards has a 6.30 ERA in 30 games for the Blue Jays this season and Francis has made only one appearance in the major leagues. The deal is looking like a steal for the Brewers, especially with Tellez having just a $1.94-million salary in his first year of arbitration eligibility.

“We were fortunate to get him,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Our guys in the front office did a great job of being on him. With the kind of offense (the Blue Jays) had, he was kind of struggling to get at-bats.

“First base was a position of need for us, and things just lined up really well between the Blue Jays and us to make the trade. And he’s taken a step forward without question.”

The left-handed hitting Tellez is a hulking presence in the batter’s box as he stands 6-foot-4 and weights 255 pounds. Not surprisingly, he has outstanding raw power.

Tellez made his mark in the minor leagues when he was the Most Valuable Player of the EasternEML
League in 2016. Playing for the Blue Jays’ Double-A New Hampshire farm club, he hit .297 with 23 home runs.

Yet Tellez never made anybody’s list of top 100 prospects in baseball. He then became basically the forgotten man with the Blue Jays during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when they moved star third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to first base.

However, the Brewers rescued Tellez’s floundering career. He has returned the favor by helping Milwaukee hold a three-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. The Brewers have a 47-35 record one game past the midpoint of their season.

“The thing we love about him is he’s got left-handed power and hits the ball hard and that in itself is really valuable,” Counsell said. “He’s obviously capable of hitting the ball hard and he does hit the ball hard and when he squares it up it’s got a chance to go out of the ballpark.”

The bald Tellez has also made his mark inside the Brewers’ clubhouse with his everyman persona.

“I’m not a superstar. I’m not a big figure in baseball,” Tellez told MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. “I have a cool name, so people remember that. But I think what I do is I’m super relatable to people. I always tell people, ‘I’m a normal guy with a bad hairline who has a cool job.’ That’s really it.”